Slavery at the Home of George Washington

George Washington inherited his first slave at the age of eleven, and he was the only founding father to free his slaves in his will. This highly readable selection of articles focuses on Washington’s changing attitudes toward the institution of slavery and his everyday relationships with the slaves who shared his Mount Vernon estate. Along with his insightful introduction, editor Philip J. Schwarz has included James C. Rees’s essay “Looking Back, Moving The Changing Interpretation of Slave Life on the Mount Vernon Estate,” Dennis J. Pogue’s essay “Slave Lifeways at Mount An Archaeological Perspective,” and Lorena S. Walsh’s essay “Slavery and Agriculture at Mount Vernon,” as well as essays by Jean B. Lee, Mary V. Thompson, and Edna Greene Medford.